


Fate's String Puppet

by Silver85



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-02-05
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:02:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3196295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver85/pseuds/Silver85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Time passes but Carmilla continues to exist. Her self posed mission is protecting the lines left of Laura's friends and of the family they created together. It's been lifetimes and the world is changing for the worse. Magic, vampires, and other supernatural creatures are now known and taking over the world, shifting the balance to be dominantly evil. All Carmilla can hope is to protect the last of her family she created with Laura. Fate, however, offers Carmilla a deal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Whispers in the leaves

**Author's Note:**

> Future chapters will have violence, gore, torture, and other horrible things. I promise to give a heads up just in case of any triggers. For this chapter its very mild. Only mentions of characters that are dead (I apologize but I have a good idea for it all...please don't hate me and please give it a chance.)

It used to not be like this. Many lifetimes ago all she wanted was to read her favorite books, sometimes in other languages, and avoid her mother’s wrath. Then Laura happened and now nothing is like it used to be. After Laura’s influence in her life, and the influence of her friends, it became easier doing the heroic vampire crap. Crap like suffering for all eternity because she couldn’t bear to part from anything that meant Laura. Even after all these lifetimes. 

When the last of them died she resigned herself to protect their lineage until the Earth turned to dust. She’d seen evil in the world, even partaking in it for so long. She knew the tides would turn back one day. The times only bending to the swing of the pendulum. Good would win out for awhile, before evil would take back the reigns and so forth. She’d started a shift in their shared life when she’d killed the light and set forth a motion of change in the tides of balance. She always imagined there was some Fate pissed with her for that. But she’d never been punished. In fact, she’d always felt blessed because she got Laura. She got her for decades until the tides swept her from the Earth as it does all organisms. And for many lifetimes she’d lived since Laura’s time, the world was basked in a time of goodness. 

She’d spent the times protecting the lines left by children she had with Laura, Perry’s children, and Danny’s. She’d was the black panther that hung out on the edges of yards and woods, protecting children from bullies and beasts and men with evil hearts. She’d watched in the darkness when those children married and had children of their own. She’d protected so many lines now that she’d seen the ghosts of souls she was once friends with. She’d watched as a Perry appeared with the same magical proficiency her past life once possessed. She’d enjoyed that reincarnation the most since witches got familiars and Leelah (or as she dubbed her; Perry 2.0) had picked her when spotting her magic in the woods. It was one of the few times she’d contemplated shifting back to her human form and living on two legs again. 

When LaFontaine reincarnated the first time, she’d left that to JP to watch over. It was sickening seeing that relationship all over again, but that had a better outcome than the original she’d witnessed and far less bloody. The second reincarnation lined up with Perry’s second as well, and that seemed like Fate was playing something out. After all, it was weird for JP to be pulled away for seventy odd years dealing with some mystical curse in a town that didn’t really care to begin with if it was saved or not. But that was his business and she stayed to protect the love struck tragedy. Sometimes she would catch herself now contemplating their strings of fate and how those souls twisted and stretched in different ways. 

She’d even witnessed another Danny during these lives and with reluctance she watched over that redhead, imagining Laura smiling at her somewhere, finally knowing she was doing it for her. Danny 1.5 had gotten herself in a lot of trouble and ended up inheriting the wolf blood Danny had cursed her line with. Another long story but it still played out after so long. Instead of a normal lifetime with Danny 1.5, she’d had to watch over that welp for a couple of lifetimes till the darkness in the world thickened enough to start snuffing out magical lights, including the light of a pure wolf. 

In all these times though, there was never another Laura. She’ see ghosts of Laura’s smiles in their great great great grandchildren. She’d seen the desire for Justice that Laura had burned brightly with. But nothing that was so inherently her Laura. Maybe she’d never see Laura’s soul again. Maybe that’s how Fate would punish her. Give her one lifetime and hide her soul away from the world so long as she was in it. Perhaps that was fair. 

She’d been selfish then, and now she would pay that price. She was paying the bounty as time fought with her. She wouldn’t be able to remember. Her memories shifting through the years. Some years she could remember every detail of every day spent with her. Then her memories would shift and she’d stumble across something that screamed at her that this was something to be associated with Laura but she couldn’t remember what it was about that thing to set her off and it left her frustrated, angry, ready to just quit the game she’d forced herself into. 

Time wasn’t fair to her. It wasn’t something she’d feared about being immortal. That sometimes her memories would fade and she’d forget the details but not the whole picture. When her memory had shifted back she’d taken to drawing the memories, finding that more meaningful than keeping a journal of words that wouldn’t evoke the image like her art would. Now she carried multiple sketchbooks, kept in waterproof seals, at the bottom of her duffle. When time would shift away her memories like footprints in sand, she’d pull out her sketches and it would help through the times she was ready to stop fighting. 

She hadn’t realized how attached to the original influences she was until she’d noticed the same strings pulled by fate with the reincarnated souls. Perry would fall for LaFontaine who would sometimes see JP in the crowd and fall for him. Other times they would end up together and magic, sometimes literal, would happen. Fate played the same stories out like a horrible soap opera that wouldn’t stop letting the same people fall in and out of love. She was relieved those shows were finally banned from daytime television. She saw it enough with her self-selected charges. 

A day came though, when she’d had a nice thought about Fate. Perhaps he wasn’t torturing her by keeping Laura’s soul from finding her again. Fate was a cruel asshole but in this she’d seen the mercy. She had feared the day that one of their great grandchildren looked just like her Laura. After all these lives, she didn’t think she’d see her again and that had to be a kindness. How would she handle seeing her love again and Laura not knowing her like she does. To be seen, in any of her forms, but not being recognized. It would break her. She was broken enough. 

She sighed from her thoughts as she perched on the limb of a great oak that had held her cat form for some many years that it had practically grown around her. She heard his footsteps long ago, her cat ears far too sensitive to her surroundings. JP finally stepped into the edge of her night vision. He was still as LaFontaine and Perry made him. Occasionally, lights would play tricks on her and she’d see him splattered with blood and flickers of terror in his eyes in realization of why he was alive. He was the only one she knew that understood her pain of loss. But Fate was kind to him and she tried not to resent him when those lives came around. 

When he reached her side he playfully tugged at her tail and she swiped at him with extended claws and a hiss. “See you’re awake. Anything notable tonight?” JP asked, not alarmed with her vacant threat of danger towards him. She popped her neck as she shifted back to her human form. She adjusted her position where she perched so she’d balance better without her animal weight. 

“It still hasn’t reached this far yet. We don’t have to disturb their peace,” She sighed as she looked off towards the cabin she’d built for Laura generations ago. It still stood, the wood aged and sagged. It was modest in size and traditional like Laura had dreamed of. The fact she’d created something other than their family line, and that it had survived longer than she imagined; she was proud. She was also proud that their descendants kept passing it down to the next generation. A way for her to protect them as her human identity. Or what they had passed down in family knowledge of why the cabin was built and by who.

“The day is coming. Sooner than we’re ready for. Do you have a plan yet?” JP asked staring off towards the cabin’s inhabitants. The newest generation, only four years old, was playing with the puppy and giggles could be heard this far even without their supernatural hearing. 

“The only plan I have is keeping them away for as long as possible. Shadows reach all corners and I can only shield them for so long. Eventually they’ll know of the worlds evil and we’ll have to fight,” She clenched her fists around the branch of the tree, splinters pinching at her skin but unable to pierce the calluses she had there. 

“They are the last bloodline for both of us. I failed them, but I won’t fail you. We’ll keep them safe from this. We have too,” JP’s voice snapped what little resolve she’d built up for the day. He’d suffered in his lives just as she had in her past. She’d never imagined that a spirit trapped in a flash drive would become so prominent of an ally in her future. She knew of magic but what he’d endured fresh from magics womb and how he’d still managed to be a force of good. To help her fight against the swing of Fate and time. She owed him so much and no way to repay that debt. “I did some projected calculations, Carmilla. We can run, hide for a few months but that is only a band aid on a severed limb. Powers are taking over. It’s literally hell on Earth.”

“What do you suggest then Robo?” She didn’t need to obvious. She needed a solution. It was down to the mother and child that, for the moment, were safely tucked into the cabin before them. 

“I foresee no solution. The end has come,” JP shivered beside her, folding his arms across his chest and tucking his chin down. Magic resided with him and it sparked in the air around him now. It left him cold but it sent sparks into her bones. The sparks increased and her fangs descended without her command. She jumped from the branch, landing deftly on the balls of her feet. The forest was churning, jolting to life around her. They were not alone. 

“No, you aren’t alone Carmilla,” The voice was hollow. An echo through the trees. JP fell into a familiar stance, arms flexed at his side ready to defend with magic while she felt the roar of her animal rise in her throat. Leaves stirred and footsteps echoed around them leaving her back against JP’s. Then before them, like a figure stepping through a heavy mist, he appeared. He felt familiar, like a memory lost during years of dormancy. “You do know me, sweet Carmilla. Although I once called you Mircalla. I’ve known you since before you were meant to be.”

“That’s far too creepy even for what we know to be real in the world. Please tell me we aren’t witnessing the second coming of Christ,” JP was at her side, his magic like static under his skin.

“I know of you too JP. But, no I am not a holy figure. I am neither good or evil. I am simply a force of the world and I pull where needed.” He stood before them, hands clasped behind his back and smirked at Carmilla like he knew her thoughts and secrets and that he would get exactly what he wanted from her. 

Then it clicked for her, “You must be that asshole Fate.” His smile confirmed that for her. She shook her head in disbelief. She’d finally lived enough years on Earth that she’d seen it all. Immortality really did suck but she could honestly say nothing would take her by surprise from this moment on.

“I am. And I have a proposition for you,” His voice was velvet and reminded her of chocolate cupcakes. How was that fair?  
“I don’t do favors for all powerful beings. I typically pick at my nails and let, well Fate, do it’s thing. So you can leave now. I’m not interested,” She sneered at him, fangs bared. 

“Is that so. Nothing I could offer in exchange for you being my representative?” His demeanor was too telling. He spoke as if he’d already bought her and that struck a respectful amount of fear and she felt that shift in JP as well. 

“I don’t work for anyone. Never been bought and I won’t be now.” She spat as her fear shifted to the two innocents in the cabin. She wished one of JP’s abilities was reading minds because if so he’d be running to get them far away from here five seconds ago. 

“I don’t want to buy you. Simply an exchange of goods. You do something for me, and I do something for you. And before you deny me again, let me explain what you will do for me. The shift of power has escalated too far and the balance is threatened. I need you to eliminate a few threats. A few...power pieces in the game of chess I have with the other Fates need to be destroyed. You are the sword I will use to cut them down.” He moved forward, still with his smirk and it pissed her off all the more.

“I’m not your sword. You want a pawn and I refuse to be that ever again,” She was all but ready to hiss at him when he invaded her space, a breath at her ears.

His whisper was deafening and everything in her sparked and sputtered at once, “Kill them for me and I’ll return to you Laura.”


	2. Chapter 1: Fate can be a shifty bastard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Run us through the logistics again.” 
> 
> “Remove the threats I point you to and I’ll let you have Laura. How hard is this to understand?”

“Run us through the logistics again,” JP ran his hand through his hair causing it to stick out every which way. She was silent, contemplating the offer that Fate presented. 

“Remove the threats I point you to and I’ll let you have Laura. How hard is this to understand?” The annoyance in having to repeat themselves was very evident. The air sparked around them and she made a mental note that Fate could be bothered with emotions like annoyance. It posed some interesting questions she would have to ponder on later. 

“So you just go carrying around souls in your pocket?” She was quip with her question, arms folded over her chest as she leaned against the tree she’d been previously perching in, one boot up to rest against the trunk. 

“Not quite. Fate’s have access to the souls of our supernatural soldiers. Mortal soulmates are more pre-designed,” Fate waved his hand about as if this should be common knowledge. 

“Supernatural soldiers?” JP asked, picking up on her train of thought. How did Laura play into this?

“Yes. This realm operates on balance. To simplify it, good versus evil. Each side picks it’s soldiers and we duke it out. Occasionally, we bring back soulmates to boost soldiers moral,” Fate turned away from them, looking towards the cabin and picking at his nails. 

“You only have access to supernatural souls. Laura was human? How can you offer Laura up?” JP asked looking at Carmilla with just as much confusion as she was feeling. Her foot dropped back to the ground, her mind racing in preparation as Fate turned his attention back towards them. 

“Laura was...is special. She was suppose to evolve during the sacrafice your mother once performed. You were the wild card no one predicted. You stopped her from transitioning, kept her human and safe. It didn’t stop what she was meant to become. She still became, somewhat, of what she was meant to. You can’t stop Fate,” He smirked as he moved in closer to Carmilla. 

“What do you mean she still became whatever?” Carmilla asked, her heart breaking that her Laura, her amazing tiny ball of love and light, wasn’t in a better place after all these years. 

“Death changes everything Carmilla. You of all beings should know that,” His mere voice was taunting her, daring her to ask the questions that were on the brink of her consciousness. 

What did she become? Where is she? Is she still her Laura? Could she forgive her for not being there all these years? 

“If you can offer her up to me as a reward then you know where she is,” Carmilla gritted her teeth together, her fangs itching within her gums.  
“I don’t know her location as of this moment. She’s a wild card, just as you once were. The others pulled her off the playing field awhile ago in anticipation of these coming days. However, if you act on my behalf, her presence will become known and I’ll point you right to her,” He folded his hands behind his back, standing taller while the corners of his lips pulled into a smirk. He believed he had her. Perhaps he did.

“Were Perry and LaFontaine part of this game you all play?” JP asked, stepping forward, almost into Fate’s personal space. 

“They are of the supernatural, are they not?” It was the sarcastic answer that made the magic in JP spark again. She cut him a look, one he knew meant to calm down and wait. After a few deep breaths he did just that, the air returning to a calmness around them. 

“Where are they then?” JP stepped back towards Carmilla, finding calm by being close enough for her to hold him back if needed.

“Resting,” It was vague and he knew it, the smirk still prominent. He shrugged, “They are, what I would call, at the Lounge. A resting spot or in between while they wait to be put back into play.”

“That doesn’t make sense. We’ve seen their reincarnations. So human and innocent. They don’t remember who they once were. None of this makes sense,” JP muttered, shooting her a look over his shoulder. She was just as confused as he was. Almost six hundred years on in this world and she’d seen weird things, participated in horrible evils, but never had she met a Fate or been clued in on a supernatural war she didn’t even see happening. She’d seen war, but only those of humans. How could a supernatural war go unnoticed? Although with the shadows rising and the creatures becoming known to humans, perhaps it wasn’t going to be so hidden anymore. 

“When we pull them, we have the options of restoring their memories. They're always there, regardless, but sometimes we put a firewall up. Can you imagine having soldiers running around with thousands of years of knowledge? Doesn’t make the fight even.” 

She stepped forward, unable to be silent in this conversation any longer, “I don’t buy any of this crap. Laura was human. My only concern is protecting the rest of our family. You can take your deal and shove it,” She was cut off as Fate stepped right up to her, barely an inch from her face. He smirked at her show of fangs, clearly not threatened by her. 

“You’ve always been hardheaded. That’s what makes you such a special piece in this game. You don’t have to believe me about your soulmate, but if you want to protect what is left of your family then you’ll play along. However I’ll sweeten the pot; I’ll shield your family from the supernatural. They’ll be safe from the shadows creeping.” 

She moved a step back, putting space between them again. She knew a long time ago not to spit in the eye of something old enough to think itself a god and now she was being stared down by Fate itself. Something pulled at her curiosity and she was bold enough to ask, “You’re an all powerful Fate who can pull strings and have puppets. Why bargain?”

He sighed and shrugged, “Because sadly there is still a thing called free will. It can be tampered with but control is fragile. What I need of you, what I foresee you having to do, having to face...it has to be your choice.” 

“How come I don’t feel like I have one?” Carmilla asked, running her hand through hair. 

“You still have to make the choice, I can just make it as enticing as possible. I’ll keep your family shielded, offer you Laura, perhaps even bring Perry and LaFontaine back into play. All you have to do is kill a few targets and retrieve some information for me,” Fate stepped to the side, JP looking between the both of them as Fate offered his hand to Carmilla, “Do we have a deal?”

She looked to JP whose only expression was that of his wrinkled brow in thought. She stared at Fate’s outstretched hand and weighed the deal heavily. If she accepted he’d keep Laura’s bloodline safe, and she’d have the chance to be reunited with Laura. To have Laura back, to be with her again, wasn’t that enough for her to accept a deal with the devil? Laura wasn’t in a safe place, if she believed what Fate was telling her. Laura wasn’t in heaven or whatever afterlife the humans got. Laura wasn’t even human. But she was her soulmate, and she would do anything for Laura. 

Her voice was barely above a whisper, and if time had been kinder to her memories she’d remember a time she whispered this once before, “Deal.”

He smiled at her, his eyes going white and the air crackling around them. “Excellent, and for my first part of the bargain,” He turned, the wave of energy pulsing outwards kicking leaves up into a small storm. She shielded her eyes as the light around him became too bright. When the wind calmed down and the darkness settled back around them she lowered her arm and took stock of her surroundings. They hadn’t moved, but the cabin with her family was gone. 

She hissed, launching forward, JP equally beside her, “What did you do? Where is my family?”

They were stopped by a force as Fate reached forward, knocking them back a step. He shook his finger back and forth at them, his smirk back in place, “I did what I said I would. A gesture of good faith. They are safe. Unable to be seen by the supernatural.” 

“How do I know that to be truth?” Her words barely escaped between her gritted teeth and the growls of her panther. 

“I do believe JP can feel life, a residual gift of Perry’s magic. Reach out, feel their energy and reassure Carmilla that I am in good standing.” JP looked at her, his fist relaxing as his eyes closed in concentration. After a moment he smiled softly, as he often did when looking in on her great great great great, so forth, granddaughter. “Now for your part of the bargain.”

She shifted back from the block of force against her, feeling her chest lighten from the pressure of the magic but not from the fear of losing her family. “Fine, who do you want me to kill?”

“Witches are setting their alliances and their is a particular one that has a knack for capturing the supernatural and torturing them for information. She has a werewolf in possession that needs to be saved and I would very much like her taken out of the game,” He stepped back, folding his hands behind his back. 

“Where is she?” Carmilla asked, fangs retracting back and her fists unclenching. Witches were tricky business.

“The dilemma is that I don’t know exactly where but I can get you within range. She’s one of the top Lieutenants and has a nice setup, from what I understand, and a few minions. They fish for her. The more powerful, or older, a creature they catch the happier she is. I can get you to the right location, you just have to get yourself caught.”

“How do you suggest that?” She asked, not liking that she would immediately have to be bait. She hated being bait. 

“I imagine a good prancing will be enough to get someone’s attention,” He smirked again, “Good luck and I will find you after your success.” 

It was just a blink and she didn’t recognize where she was. JP groaned beside her before bending over his knees and fighting off being sick. “Son of a bitch!” She huffed and looked around them before realizing she didn’t have her duffle nor did JP. No sooner had she thought it, a slight pop filled her sensitive hearing and with a crackle in the air their bags appeared at their feet. At least Fate wasn’t a complete asshole. 

“That was very unpleasant,” JP stood back up rubbing at his face. 

“I feel like the next bit of our lives are only going to get more unpleasant,” She sighed and lifted her duffle to her shoulder. She wanted her things in a safe place before allowing herself to get caught. Memories tickled at the back of her mind of Laura in a white dress, champagne bottle in her hands, Don’t you look like a virgin sacrifice…

“Where did that fucker send us?” He looked around them while picking his own bag up, hoisting it over his shoulder. 

“Smells like the South. Too much roadkill in the air,” She groaned. 

“Carmilla, are you sure this is what you want us to do, become some sort of assassin for Fate? We can turn around and leave town right now,” JP shifted as he looked her over. She was certain when she took the deal. She would probably regret it heavily in the near future but for now her family was safe, and Laura is out there somewhere. 

“He didn’t strike the deal with you. You can leave if you want,” She offered and she knew she wouldn’t hold it against him. 

Some things had to be done alone, but he stepped forward with his shy smile and shrugged, “I’ve stuck around this long. It sounds like you’re going to be up against some pretty nasty things. You’re going to need backup.” 

She kept from smiling but nodded her appreciation. He wasn’t wrong, she was going to need backup. Witches are tricky creatures and if this one was baiting the supernatural on a regular basis, then she was already up for one hell of a fight. It wouldn’t hurt to have JP around. First things first, they needed a place to hide their stuff and then it was a matter of her making a scene to get herself caught. No worries Laura, if I could find the strength to fight my mother all those years ago, I can find the strength to do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying this fic so far. Feel free to come bother me on Tumblr (wigster07).


	3. Of Wolves and Witches

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She has to deal with Fate dropping her and JP off in a town where feeding isn't an option. That just adds to the challenge of hunting this damn witch down and saving some mangy wolf that can't protect itself. But she'd do this, a hundred times over, if it meant saving Laura. She would do anything for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for this chapter: Violence, killing, mention of blood, seziures

She leaned her forehead against the cool glass of the window and watched as the hues in the sky lightened into purples. Within moments she would be driven into the rough lumps of their motel bed as her nocturnal instincts would take command of her consciousness. She made another sweep of the town street in search of JP or at least his shadow. He’d been gone for hours, insisting on finding her clean blood to drink. This was definitely a supernaturally aware town. The water supply was blessed and everyone ate large amounts of garlic and silver was the only jewelry anyone and everyone wore. For a witch keen on hunting the supernatural she sure did pick a horrible town to do it in. Why would any sane creature want to willingly come here?

She moved away from the window as purple turned pink in the sky. She tilted her head to the side till she felt the pop in her spine. She only felt a tiny prick of physical relief. What she really needed was a bag of blood and a change of clothes and she’d feel tolerable again. JP would bring her the blood but short of buying clothing in a town that didn’t know anything about fashion or comfort, she would have to ignore the way her shirt was wearing at her raw. Soon as they found a secure location, they’d hidden their belongings and that included her spare clothes. She’d thought it would be easier getting caught in a small town but so far she was still missing the witch. 

She stretched out on the motel bed and groaned at how her body immediately clenched in discomfort. This was the nicest place to stay in town but with the comfort of their beds she figured they didn’t like visitors at all. Who the hell would willingly stay here longer than their spine alignment could take? 

As the sun rose her eyelids drooped. Her thoughts turned to Laura, hoping it would bring a mental comfort that would wash out her physical unease. Her memories were starting to trade out again, shifting into their later years. It was hard to picture young and gun-ho Laura but she remembered her as her wife, beautiful and strong. She could see her nursing their daughter, teaching her how to hold a pencil properly, how to ride a bike and the proper bike safety. Her heart ached in her chest and she pulled herself up out of the bed. She’d never be comfortable enough to sleep like that even if the mattress wasn’t harder than a boulder. 

She double checked that she’d put up the do not disturb knocker on the door and pulled the curtains shut after doing another sweep to see if she spotted JP. He would be back soon, perhaps waiting till daylight to cover his tracks to their room. She sighed and with a puff of smoke she stalked into the bathroom on four legs, her tail flicking behind her in irritation. She pushed the shower curtain back with her nose and twisted until she could tuck her paws beneath her on the cool bathtub floor and rested her head on her paws. The tub walls surrounded her sides and she finally felt comfortable enough to close her eyes and push away memories so her mind could find comfort for as long as she could manage. She kept her ears tuned to the door of the room but nothing disturbed the passing morning as she finally managed to find sleep. 

Run child. Run and be free in the moonlight. Feel the Earth move beneath you, feel as it quakes in your power. What power you hold and you don’t exert it. What has broken your spirit? I will bring you back. You will be magnificent again. Run child, run and find me. 

She was in her human form when she awoke. She groaned, feeling how tight her muscles were in their cramped state. She pulled herself up and out of the bathtub floor. She stretched feeling every joint crack and pop throughout her frame. She needed blood. Her body was starting to cramp and crack from the lack of nutrients. It was also making her extra cranky. She opened the bathroom door and expected to see JP sprawled out on the horrid motel bed but only her imprint from the morning was wrinkled into the sheets. He hadn’t made it back. 

She quickly surveyed the room but didn’t find anything misplaced or suspicious. She’d been tucked away safely leaving JP to all the danger she wasn’t getting to be a part of. She growled in frustration at herself and the diabolical stupid deal she’d agreed to. She ripped open the motel door, noticing she wasn’t strong enough to actually rip it from the hinges. She needed blood but she needed to find JP. She took the motel steps down to the street and slipped into the alleyway next to the hotel. She took to a light jog and shifted in the shadows. She landed behind the motel on four paws and sprinted towards the wood lines on the edge of town. She no longer cared about keeping a low profile, the townspeople be damned. 

She took to the trees, leaping from tops of trees to the next hoping to catch his scent in the air. He hadn’t given her a travel path for her to track if he’d gone missing and if she hadn’t spent hundreds of years sitting in a tree and watching her family live their lives, she might have been tactically with it. LaFontaine and Danny had always been the better ones with making attack plans and keeping everyone together and safe. For the first time, in the most honest light, she wished they were still around. Especially to help her save Laura. Damn time and mortality. 

She circled the entire town and found no trace of his scent lingering in the air. She would have to take to the ground and hope to find it in the soil. It was riskier, especially for someone to spot her but it was her last effort without having to come up with something desperate. She dropped to the ground and sniffed at the dirt like some common dog. She huffed in disgust at herself, sending dirt to puff around her snout. When she found him, he wouldn’t be allowed out of her sight. He was the last of them, short of their bloodlines, and she’d lost him too. What kind of guardian angel was she? She wasn’t one. She was a creature with no power of keeping anything safe. She’d been foolish her entire existence and one of these days she’d have to start thinking like the centuries old badass she was suppose to be and not the child she felt like currently. 

She continued her circle around the town. The soil around her smelled of ash and something else but she hadn’t stumbled across the scent of well traveled and expensive leather boots that JP prided himself on keeping so many years. She hated those boots but the scent would be her only chance of finding him. The thought had occurred to her that perhaps he had decided to leave her to finding and saving Laura on her own. He didn’t have any stake in this suicide quest she’d found herself on. He could go and wait for LaFontaine to reappear someday and have his new happy ending on a never ending repeat cycle. Why help her when he can help himself? She only dwelt on that thought for a moment and knew she was wrong because in her core she knew JP. He had too much of LaFontaine in his blood and Perry in his magic. Goodness was his core because he was created with it. He would help her because they once would have. She had to find him, she owed it to him. 

“Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” Her ears shot up, surprised she hadn’t heard footsteps or breathing but she was lacking on food, making her senses dull. She turned to the small child, expecting to see innocence and awe. Her lip curled up in surprised disgust. The child was thin and lanky, lips pulled thin to show rotted teeth, hair knotted with dirt and parts of her scalp balded. She smelled of death and ash. She stepped back growling out a warning. This was no innocent child. Her hair stood up on her back. 

“Don’t be afraid kitty. Won’t take me long to skin you. I’ll use your fur to keep me warm,” The child snickered and stalked forward, their small frame pulsing power she wouldn’t have expected. The shadows thickened around them and she felt the trap spring, the energy in the air suffocating her. She hissed, taking steps back from the child but the shadows became tar in the air as she hit their boundaries. 

The air hissed to her left, something heavy cutting through the thin air and kicking her off her feet. She landed with force, rolling over until a tree broke her. She felt her control on her consciousness and animal form slipping. She couldn't take a breath, the pain in her side pinching at her organs. She cracked her eyes open, feeling brave enough to stare her death in the face as it descended upon her. Beside the child, that was laughing and clapping in glee at her twisted form, a tall overly built man stood beside her, a club of concrete and pipe in his hand. He looked no better than the child; completely bald, skin splattered with dirt and grim, and his left eye just an empty socket. He smiled down at her with a mouth void of teeth. “Pick her up Abe. Misses is going to want this one.” The child's voice was drowned out with what sounded like rushing oceans as the shadows thickened, blinding her before consciousness slipped from her grasp. 

Your mind is limitless. The lives you lead. All trapped in the infinity of your soul. Waiting to be fed on, unleashed, used. Your lack of purpose gives me meaning, child. To tap into your potential. Your history waiting to be told again. The Fates don’t know what weapons they’ve unleashed this time. Power is always shifting. 

“Carmilla!” 

She knew pain. She knew hunger. She knew loss. 

“CARMILLA!” 

She wished she didn’t know anything. To be young, naive, and filled with hope. To have simply been murdered and left dead. There was no heaven, no salvation. Souls didn’t get to go to a better place. Laura would have gone to a better place otherwise. She’d tainted her. Ruined her purity. She deserved her hell. She lived her reality.

“WAKE UP YOU USELESS VAMPIRE!” 

JP. She heard him, another soul tainted by the cruelty of the world. Trapped so long ago, caught up in her mother’s scheme. Offered life again to just watch his love die. Tragedy. They were stained with it. 

“God damnit Carmilla. I need you to wake up,” JP’s voice was cutting through the fog which also cut through the numbing abyss and made her aware of the state of her body. 

“Shut the fuck up,” She spat, old blood flaking in her mouth. She hissed, tossing her head back to move her hair out of her eyes. She took everything in as quickly as she could. Her arms were pinned awkwardly behind her, the metal biting into her flesh and rubbing the layers away. Her ribs poked into her lungs, but it only annoyed her as she didn’t need to breath. Still, the pain was consuming her focus. 

“You look like shit, by the way,” JP drew her attention. He was in no better shape. His right eye was swollen, the pupil blown and the white of his eye red from a ruptured vessel. He was hanging by his wrists, chained to the ceiling. A few of his fingers were bent at angles they shouldn’t be, and his left pant leg was stained in old blood. 

“You look no better. I’m hoping it was that witch bitch that caught us?” She twisted her hands behind her, unable to stop her fangs from descending in pain as she removed most of the skin feeling the silver of the clasps contact with her blood. 

“I think so. The demon child and her olaf seem to be minions. They have no magic in their auras,” He looked at her with concern while she spasmed against the wall she was chained to. The silver was keeping her from smoking out of the hold but if she could just work her thumbs she could slip her hands out of the restraints. JP winced for her as he heard two definitive cracks. With a wiggle and a string of curse words she was shifting away from the wall and looking at her wrists, before popping her thumbs back into place. “Seems they weren’t expecting your escape artist skills.”

“You could get yourself free too if you knew what to do,” She glared at him pointedly. 

“Care to enlighten me?” JP joked. At least he was still in good humor despite their current situation. The door to the room clanged as the metal scraped against the floor and clashed with the wall behind it.

“What the?” She couldn’t believe she hadn’t heard the jolly giant shuffling beyond the walls. How long had they been chained up? If her senses were gone, she was doomed to the seizures starting. 

He launched forward, arms swinging wide in an attempt to grab her. She rolled out of the way and kicked out at his knee. Her heel merely bounced off his thigh as she lacked the strength to do anything but annoy him. She wasn’t quick enough as his hand caught her around her ankle. He moved quickly then, his other hand grabbing at her shirt. Without any effort he lifted her and then threw her towards the wall. The concrete crumbled and dust polluted the air. Metal spokes stuck from the ground around her and when she twisted to free herself from the rubble, one was ripping through her thigh spilling whatever fresh blood she still had left. Her consciousness twitched and she knew she only had minutes before a seizure took her. She was useless, helpless, and really pissed off. 

Boots appeared in her vision and she growled with what voice she had left. Hands grabbed at her shoulders and pulled her up, ripping her from the rubble and metal. She howled in pain, striking out against his bulk with weak strikes. He laughed. Actually laughed in her face and her anger boiled up and over, “Fuck you cyclops!” She poked forward, driving her fingers into his only eye. He howled and dropped her, clutching his face. Her fingers were slick with goo and she sneered in disgust, flicking it off her fingers. She leapt forward, tossing her entire body into his midriff. They tumbled back and she grunted as her head bounced off a pile of concrete, feeling another spike tear through her side. The brute beneath her was twitching as she pulled back, pleased to see her ditch effort had worked. He was impaled in a few different spots, his body oozing black goo in place of blood. That meant he was undrinkable and was quite possible that any others she ran across might be as well. 

“Hey Holy! Good job but you made a racket. Might want to get me down so I can help,” JP jiggled a bit to illustrate he was still chained up. 

She stumbled towards him, her leg dragging a bit behind her. She stared for a moment, trying to figure how best to help him. She didn’t have the strength to rip him down or break the clasps on his wrists. “You need blood. Take a quick bite and break me out,” JP didn’t look at her with his offer, staring at his own hands and knowing she’d need her strength to break the lock at his wrists. 

“I won’t feed off you Nancy,” She huffed. He grunted and kicked his bloodstained leg at her. Moving it reopened the wound and the smell of his blood hit her like a freight train. It was addicting, a drug of magic and memory. She’d only fed off him once and nearly killed him because she couldn’t stop and she wasn’t as desperate for blood then as she was now. She would kill him. She’d lost all of them, except for him and she wasn’t going to be the one to make the final blow. 

“Just do it Carmilla,” JP tried swinging at her again to prompt her but she stepped back and held her breath. She would not feed of him. She would continue to refuse that. She stumbled back towards the rubble and struggled with pulling free one of the spikes. When it slipped from the concrete her mind twitched again and she staggered into the non crumbled wall for support. She only had seconds to do what she could before her body seized. She rolled against the wall and launched herself towards JP. She aimed up, where the chain was clasped into the ceiling. At least her aim was still true as the spike wedged at the juncture. She bounced with her body weight, loosening the ceiling around the clasp. JP twisted his body to swing and apply a contrasting friction.

She felt it give, just as her body was wrenched from her control. She fell, crumbling into a mass of twisting, twitching flesh and bone. She could see JP fall to his knees, the chain spiraling down around him. She could only hear the rushing of blood in her head as her eyes rolled back into her head. She could only hope that this passed, a few moments that felt like eternity. She knew it would end, it always ended before. Everything always ends. 

“You stupid vampire. All you had to do was take a sip. I swear!” JP knelt beside her when she finally cracked her eyes open. Everything was too bright, despite the only light being a string of old bulbs littering odd places on the wall. “How the hell on you going to take out this witch if you can’t even stand? Hmm?” 

She managed to lift one arm and flick him off. He huffed before chuckling a bit. His hands were still bound but at least he wasn’t hanging like a delicate birdy. He helped her sit up, “Think you could pick this?” He asked. 

“Just let me pull out my handy dandy thieves kit I keep shoved up my ass,” She groaned, feeling her throat pull at it’s dryness. Soon as she got them out of here, and out of this god forsaken town, she was drinking an entire blood bank.

He actually laughed at her joke and helped pull her to her feet, holding half her weight against him, “Let’s move before that damn kid comes around. Maybe we can find a key and someone you’re willing to eat.”

“I wouldn’t mind taking a bite out of the witch,” She groaned. They climbed over the brute and out into the hallway. She could hear the faint drip down the hall and of the chain dragging behind them. They turned the corner and she stilled. Before them in the middle of the hall and just out of the light stood two little girls. “Christ, what the fuck?” She gasped, actually being taken aback by the girls. 

JP looked at her confused, “What is it?”

“You don’t see them? Creepy twins with blood tears just staring us down?” She asked pointing ahead of them. 

JP looked but turned back to her with concern, “I don’t see what your seeing. Is it a threat?” 

“I don’t know,” She tensed just a howl tore through the still air. She looked behind them before turning back to where the girls once were, now just a empty dead hallway. 

“I think that was the wolf we’re meant to save. We should move,” JP didn’t move them forward till she nodded. 

“They aren’t there anymore, let’s go,” She hobbled forward.

“Ghosts?” JP kept turning to check behind them.

“This place is creepy enough,” They found stairs at the end of the hallway. JP picked up his chain, draping it best he could over his shoulder so it wouldn’t clang up each step. As they made it to the next floor, the howling increased. JP was gasping and she could feel the air thinning. 

“She’s close. I can feel her now. Both of them,” JP shivered against her as they slipped through the door into what appeared to be the main floor of a warehouse. Lights flickered against the walls but towards the center of the room, a body was strapped to a table with silver chains. Another person was standing at the nearby table, slumped over something she couldn’t see from this far, dressed rags with hair sticking out like it had a electric current pulsing through it. In the risers above them, children sat and giggled, pointing to the person on the table. 

“Are you too weak to shift?” JP whispered, crouching them down to make it harder to see them in the shadows. 

She quickly assessed her body, feeling every broken bone and exposed wound, “I could maintain it for only a moment. I’m too weak for anything more.” 

“Alright. I’m going to distract her, twist her around so your behind her. Hopefully give you a clean shot.” It was as good of a plan as they were going to get. They just had to kill the witch and keep the wolf alive. 

The witch moved to stand at the persons head, hands splayed on either side. She hated that she couldn’t hear in on the whispers. She was almost curious as to what the witch wanted with a wolf anyway. Their familiars were almost always cats or birds. Speaking of, where the hell was this witches familiar? 

A wind took through the room as light erupted from the witches hands. The body on the table began to thrash and pull at the chains binding them. She and JP stalked closer, hoping whatever spell or ritual that was taking place would distract from them. It seemed to work as they got close enough to hide behind a support pillar. They peeked around the corner and watched as the witch continued her magic. The body on the table continued in its violent jerks. The person began to shift, claws for hands and fangs could been seen. Wild red hair whirled around the persons face as the witch continued. Sharp blue light poured from the witches palms and pierced through the temples of her victim. A howled scream tore through the warehouse. Just as quickly as the magic started, it was over. The body on the table, slumped and laid still but she could see their chest move to take desperate breaths. The wolf was still alive. 

JP rushed in, “HEY!” So much for sneaking. At least he drew the witches sight further away from where she was crouched. She moved as gracefully and quietly as she could. Witches weren’t known for super senses so she doubt she was being heard. 

“How did you manage to get yourself free? Doesn’t matter too much. Your hands are still bound so your magic is useless,” She hissed at him, striking a hand forward and pulling back towards herself harshly. JP flew forward and landed roughly on his knees in front of her. His eyes turned towards the person on the table, eyes going wide. That concerned her. 

“Perhaps, you can teach me then. I obviously have some skill. And I killed the brute downstairs so you're in need of another henchman,” JP stalled.

“Killed the brute? That is surprising to an extent. However, I’ve spent my energy and would rather feed off you. Your magic is unique and makes me salivate,” Her words made JP actually shiver. The hag reached forward, hand at JP’s temple and his scream was silent. She could see the veins near the witches hand as they pulsed towards the surface of his skin. 

She moved around the corner, felt her body shift slowly. “Ah, the other escaped too!” The witches words were her only warning while she was midair in her leap towards the witches throat. The witch turned and pushed against her with a wall of force sending her spiraling through the warehouse. 

She landed in a heap of dust and metal and smoke. She screamed, fire burning at her skin as she realized she was sprawled into a full beam of sunlight. She pulled herself quickly into the shadow and saw how far she’d actually been tossed. A wall of sunlight blocked her from the panther sized hole in the wall. If she was fresh on blood, the sun would only irritate her but her supernatural defenses were weak with her lack of food and current damage to her body. She might actually catch flame trying to run back in, but she was without choice, JP was still inside and the witch had to be stopped. 

She took a few steps back, hoping she could make it in one leap. She rushed forward, jumping to dive through the wall. She managed to make it, her skin only smoking slightly. Her vision blurred and she stumbled trying to get back to her feet. Her vision finally cleared and she saw JP with the chain wrapped around the witches neck, struggling to keep her pinned while she desperately swung back trying to palm at flesh. The table had been turned over, and she couldn’t see if the person that was strapped to it was still alive or not. 

“Carmilla!” JP shouted at her and with her last bit of strength she shifted again and spirited at the witch. JP released just as she landed with teeth at her throat. Warmth coated her face and filled her mouth. Screams died out in her ears and the body stopped struggling beneath her. She licked and gulped at the blood till it stilled beneath her. She sighed, feeling the fog lift from her mind and her muscles and bones knit themselves back into their proper places. She would still need more blood but for now she could at least function at a basic level.

“Uh, Carmilla?” JP’s voice pulled her out of her sloppy licks and she shifted back to stare at him and the shock that was leaning against him. Red hair and just as tall as he was. It was a face she hadn’t seen in a very long time. 

“If it isn’t the dead girl. I hope you don’t expect a thank you for saving me,” Danny’s voice was unmistakable. How the hell? She focused in on the nickname that Danny once called her. Reincarnations never recognized them before. How the hell was this Danny? 

JP pulled the table back up and Danny leaned against it heavily. She pulled herself to her feet, wiping the blood from her chin and lips. JP held his hands out towards her and she pulled at the lock that kept him bound. The lock and chain fell to the floor, the only noise in the warehouse. “I think we’ve rendered her speechless.” JP joked, rubbing at his wrists and moving around them as they continued to stare each other down.

“I’ll enjoy the silence while I can then,” Danny snarked. Yep, it was really her. At least her old self. She was still confused as to the how. Was this some trick of Fate? Make her rescue the one person who had despised her for so long. Even Danny’s reincarnations didn’t like her for very long. 

“How?” It was all she managed to ask, looking up while running a hand through her hair in confusion. She noticed the risers was void of children. Good riddance, let the creepers run away. She had enough to deal with. 

“I think I know,” JP turned to the, a book of worn leather and loose pages in his hands. “Seems the witches talent was with the mind. This is a spell on how to take and revert memories.” 

“So the witch brought Danny’s past life memories to the present?” She folded her arms over her chest and looked back at Danny. 

“I’m a little foggy, but I can remember a few different lives right now. I hate to say, you seem to be present in all of them. Just couldn’t leave me alone, could you?” Danny snarled at her.

“I was looking out for you so don’t give me that shit,” She spat back. 

“Guys! I don’t think fighting is the best option right now. We need to figure out how to get in touch with Fate seeing as we killed the wicked witch and saved Danny,” JP stood between them, the book still clutched in one hand. 

“What the hell is JP talking about?” Danny tossed her hands up in annoyance. 

“Well, mangy, we have a lot to catch you up on,” She huffed, letting her arms drop to her side. It was going to be a long afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major shout out to my friend, who can be found on Tumblr: drummmergirl. She's been helping me edit and work out the kinks in the fic. You can also hit me up on tumblr: Wigster07. I love talking about anything, including my fics. I also very much look forward to feedback. Thanks for reading my peeps!

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work in progress. I said I wouldn't write outside of one shots but here I am. This is what happens when i work the night shift and it's slow. I love feedback so please leave me comments or come ask me things on Tumblr: Wigster07. I promise I don't bite....with fangs anyway.


End file.
